Eye For An Eye
by Crazy Black Sheep
Summary: Neji, Tenten and Lee are sent on an escort mission to the Lightning Country for a man hunted by Orochimaru. NXT, rated M for a lemon later in life, and swears, cant forget the swears.
1. AN

_AN: No i am not dead, close, but not. It has been a real shitty year so this story was basically last on my shit to get done/ sorted out list. I have basically spent the last month catching up on all the mangas and episodes to various anime and was reminded i still have this to finish now that i have something related to free time. Just to let you know i have and am in the pain steaking process of editting all the chapters i currently have up, not all of which are done, but they should be better than the originals that i had up, with all the spelling mistakes. I still cant believe my spell check changed konoha to konohoa and i didnt notice. _

_Im sure there are more mistakes here and there but not as many as there where before._


	2. Wanting

Eye For An Eye

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or anything related to it, if I did, you would know.

Tenten was panting, sweat dripping from her forehead, Kami it was hot out. Why the hell did Neji insist on training today?

_"Bastard, he's not even sweating_"

Neji just stood there staring at his female training partner, giving her a minute to recoup. He knew that if he said continue she would and normally did, but he knew on a day like this, rest was necessary for her, she after all, didn't have the body control that the Hyuuga did, nor did he want her to pass out from heat stroke.

"Ok, I'm Ready Neji"

"Hn"

Tenten hated that word, for a reason even unknown to her, she just hated it.

"Any day now would be nice" Neji commented, waiting for her attack.

"Smug piece of……"

Not a second later, an arsenal the entire Fire Country would be proud to have came flying at the Hyuuga.

_6 Hours Later….._

Again Tenten was sweating and panting.

"Bastard"

It was now close to nightfall, their training complete for the day. Weapons and craters scattered the training grounds. And as usual, Neji still looked like he did when he first stepped onto the field that morning, perfect.

Tenten on the other hand, was tired and dirty. Today was brutal. The heat was unbearable, not a breeze the whole damned day. Stupid fire country, no wonder it has that name. She looked around the field, her weapons barely left an inch of ground to be seen. Thank Kami she could just do a hand sign and they where back on her scrolls.

"Same time tomorrow Neji?"

"Hn"

"Would saying a full, actual word kill you?"

With a smirk, Neji looked at her.

"No, but why say more than needed?"

"......."

Tenten couldn't argue with his logic, no matter how stupidly simple it was. All she could do was watch as he walked back to the Hyuuga compound, and wait to see him again tomorrow.

"Why the hell did I have to fall in love with him?"

She asked herself that very question on a daily and yet it was another thing she just didn't understand. Sure he was handsome, smart, and talented and had an incredibly noble clan behind him, but so did Uchiha, and she didn't have a single feeling for him. If she had the chance she would push him off a bridge, and probably laugh as she did it, but Neji, she just couldn't explain.

"Oh well, it's not like I would have a chance anyway" she sighed.

All she could do was wish for a miracle.

Once again she looked at their training field, remembering all the things she learned on this field, all the training that made her the kunoichi she was today, and best of all, all the time she was able to spend with the man she loved.

Again she sighed, and did the hand signs to summon her weapons back onto her scrolls. All she could do was go home and wait to come here again tomorrow to train with the one man she knew she could never have, so she would just sit back and watch him, forever wishing

Tenten woke up the next morning at the same time she always did, O too early o'clock, had a shower, got dressed and once again made her way back to the training field. And as usual, there was Neji, meditating under the same tree he's sat under for years. There is actually an indent to where his perfectly sculpted ass goes. Her's was right beside his.

Tenten smiled as she walked up and sat next to him, another ritual she was thankful for. She was able to be relatively close to Neji for a while, without it seeming weird. She sat back against the same tree and closed her eyes, quietly waiting for her teammate to say he was ready.

About 20 minutes into a usual hour, they were interrupted by probably the most annoying thing known to mankind. It was green, loud, and had a bad beetles rip off bowl cut.

"Kami damn you Lee"

"YOSH, MY YOUTHFUL TEAM MATES"

"Lee, you do not have to yell when we are but 5 feet away." Neji said quite irritated.

"Really Lee, we tell you this every time." Tenten sighed.

"Oh I Am so sorry youthful flower and eternal rival, but I have great news!!!!"

"And that would be?" A still irritated Neji inquired.

"YOSH, WE HAVE A MISSION, WE MUST REPORT TO THE HOKAGE TOWER IMMEDIATELY."

"LEE, what did we say not 30 seconds ago?" A now EXTREMELY irritated Neji asked.

"Oh, I am so sorry, but I am so youthfully excited, it's our first mission in a few weeks, how can you not be excited?"

It was true, not one of them, even Neji, had been sent on a mission for about 3 weeks. Infact, only Sakura was sent on a mission, if you could call lecturing the Sand country on the essentialness of well trained medical ninja, a mission.

"Well, it's about time wouldn't you say Neji?"

"Hn, it is."

"YOSH, if I cannot beat you to the Hokage tower I must run 1000 laps around Konoha."

"Why don't you make that 2000 laps Lee?" Tenten suggested.

"That's a great idea Tenten, if I do not beat you my youthful rival, I shall run 2000 laps around Konoha."

"You do that." A still irritated Neji replied.

And in a poof for smoke, Lee was gone, leaving Neji and Tenten alone again, much to her pleasure.

"Well, shall we be off Neji?"

"Hn"

It was another rare thing for Tenten, She got to walk beside Neji the whole way to the Hokage's office, what more could she want?

_Inside the Hokage Office  
_  
"Here is your mission, an S-Rank escort mission from the Lightning Country" Tsunade said as she handed Neji the file with all the info needed.

" An S- Rank escort mission? Who are we escorting? A King?" Tenten asked.

"No, He's a Shinobi, and an extremely powerful one at that, probably more powerful then the Sannin, and possibly even the 4th."

"Then why does this, Jin, need an escort? If he is indeed as strong as you say, he should be fine by himself." Neji inquired,

"No one knows his real name, or where he even comes from, or actually what he can do, it's just all rumors, none the less, he has asked for an escort to Konoha. We have confirmation that Orochimaru has his eyes on this man, for what reason we don't know, but he's paying handsomely so we aren't going to question it when we need the money."

"Just what are some of these rumors?" Lee asked

"Well," Tsunade started. "Well, one of them, and probably the most retold story, is that he is somewhat, immortal."

"Immortal? There is no such thing as immortality in this world." Neji stated. "_Immortal, how preposterous."_

"As I said, just rumors and stories. Another one that seems to keep going is that he is old enough to have fought in the first Ninja War, which adds to the immortal part of the story."

"Well that just confirms its fictitious. The first Ninja War was over 100 years ago." Neji once again skeptically stated.

"They are just stories, Neji. If you want to know more there are some in the folder. Now get going. I expect you back in 2 weeks. Understood?"

"Hai." All three said in unison.

They left the Hokage's office and all started to head their separate ways before Neji stopped Tenten.

"Training?" was all he said.

Tenten sighed, even the day before a mission he wanted to train, "I just can't say no to him."

It was late by the time Neji let her leave to go pack for tomorrow journey. She didn't have much time to pack, the lightning country was a long ways off so she would need to get a somewhat good night's sleep in if she wanted to keep up with those two.

She looked at her bag, everything she needed was there, scrolls, kunai, tags, sleeping gear, disgusting food pills… yup, everything needed was there.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

They met at the Gate at 5:50, a time still considered unholy in Tenten's mind, but what can she do. Neji and Lee where discussing the mission details when she came strolling up.

"Ah, youthful flower, are you ready to depart on our mission?"

"Of course, Lee."

"Excellent, then shall we be off?"

"Hn. The Hokage says this mission should take us about 2 weeks, about a week to get there and same on the return, giving time for interruptions of course."

"Hmm, hopefully not, I just want to get back as soon as possible."

"Don't worry youthful flower, this will be a piece of cake. We will be done this mission faster than Naruto can east a bowl of ramen."

"I don't think that's humanly possible, Lee" Tenten laughed, it was true though, if someone could do something faster than Naruto could eat a bowl of ramen the world would probably come to an end.

"Lets get going." Was all Neji said before he started to head out.

"Hai." Tenten and Lee said in unison, following their leader.

The trio traveled nonstop all day, part of which was to try and tire Lee out so he will actually sleep that night. He has the bad habit of staying up and being annoyingly loud all night long. And the other part was because Neji said so, probably for aforementioned reason.

They setup camp as night fall came. Lee of course wanted to continue, but Neji over ruled and as another genius idea of his, told Lee that if he could do 5000 pushups in an hour, they would go his speed the whole day tomorrow. Lee couldn't resist this challenge from his "youthful rival" and proceeded to a more secluded area as not to disturb the other members of his team. At least he was courteous about it.

"Well, now that Lee will be preoccupied for an hour, what shall we do Neji?"

"Hn, we'll finish setting up the camp, then you can do as you please for the rest of the night."

_"Maybe I can use this chance to be open with him."_

Neji finished setting up his tent, and went to sit under a tree near the fire. It was nice night.

Tenten finished her tent a lil afterward, and went over to makes Lees. Luckily for them he brought the easy tent she bought him 2 years ago. Tenten loved it because it was idiot proof, pull the tab up and it set up the tent using a spring system. Taking it down was a bit annoying, but with Lee's strength it could be done relatively pain free, most of the time.

"Ah, all done" Tenten stated as she went to sit next to Neji, this time a lil closer than she usually did. She wanted to be as close to him as she could, but without it being painfully obvious.

"You are sitting closer than usual." Neji stated simply.

_Damn._

"Oh, I'm sorry Neji, I didn't notice, this spot looked more comfy than the spot with spiky rocks." she said laced with sarcasm, trying to mask the embarrassment of being caught within all of 3 seconds.

"Hn" was all he said with a smirk, he knew why she was really sitting close.

"So Neji, umm, what are your plans for the future?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, you seem to live day by day, I'm asking what your plans are with your clan, as a shinobi, are you going to join ANBU, and....." Tenten wasn't sure if she should say it.

"And?"

"And… marriage. You're in the age bracket where most Hyuuga should be married, do you have anyone in mind?" she asked, hopefully.

"How do you know at what age we are to marry?"

"Hinata told us her father wished her to be married soon, and said it was the same for you." she answered truthfully.

"Hn, it is true that Hyuuga, especially the men, are usually married, or at least engaged by our age."

"Then why are you not then?" She was more curious than ever, this is one of the longest conversation's she's ever had with him.

"Because I do not accept the women the elders choose for me, and send them home crying."

"Why don't you choose a woman **you** want?"

Neji hesitated at this question, he didn't know how to answer without giving anything away,

"I guess because I haven't found a woman that the elders would approve of."

Tenten sat and pondered his answer, could that mean......

"So you have a woman in mind that you want as your wife?" Tenten tried to hide the hope and fear in her eyes, hope that it's her, fear that it's not.

"Yes, she is the only one I want, but I can never have her, the elders would never approve." Neji said with a sad tone, something very rare for the prodigy.

"Why wouldn't they?" She was more worried now than hopeful, if it was her he liked, than he basically just told her they can never be together.

Neji decided to end it there, he knew if he continued he would let something slip he couldn't afford to expose.

"You should get some rest Tenten, we are going to travel farther tomorrow to try and make some time."

Tenten looked away with a saddened look on her face, she really wanted to know. He didn't give enough clues for her to even take a guess it was her he liked. She just nodded her head and walked over to her tent, took one last longing look at the man she loved before she closed the flaps to her tent.

Neji sighed. He almost let go what he could never tell, all because of his desire for the kunochi. He wouldn't dare ruin what they had, if the elders found out it was indeed Tenten that he wanted as his wife, they would do everything in their power to make sure he never saw her again.

_"Fucking clan"_

"I am sorry Neji, I was unable to complete the challenge, I only did 4032 pushups." Lee walked up, shoulders slumped in defeat.

Neji glanced at his teammate for a split second before turning his gaze back towards Tenten's tent, it didn't seem like an hour has passed.

"Hn, when we get back to Konoha you now have to run 3000 laps around the city." Neji said almost mindlessly, Lee seemed to forget what the "challenge" was even for.

"YOSH, I SHALL 4000 LAPS FOR THIS UNYOUTHFUL FAILER."

"Lee, shut up. Tenten has retired for the evening."

"Ah, I am sorry my youthful rival. Did you have a youthful time with our youthful flower?"

"Hn….."

Lee had somehow learned of his affection for the kunochi, even to this day it is beyond the genius on how, and what amazed him even more is that he kept the fact to himself.

"Why do you not just tell her Neji, she deserves to know." Lee said exasperated.

Neji used his Byakugan to check Tenten's tent to make sure she was asleep.

"You know why Lee, I'm not going to start something I know will have to end." Neji said with a tired tone.

Lee followed Neji's gaze to Tenten's tent.

"You will never find happiness in this world if you don't even try to fight for what you want. You above anyone else should know that Neji."

With that Lee took his leave for his tent, thankful Tenten set it up for him. He was cursed with tents, even these ones where all you do is pull the tab didn't work for him.

Neji looked to Lee's tent for a few minutes, going over the words his team mate had said, an extremely rare moment of wisdom form the mini green beast. None the less the green beast was right, and Neji knew it. But he still knew that he could never be with Tenten, no matter how much he wanted to be. The Hyuuga clan would refuse her outright, just on the basis she doesn't have a last name, which added to the fact that she didn't come from a prestigious clan.

Neji sighed_ "First my mother, than my father," _Neji looked at Tenten's tent again, _"I cannot afford to lose her, even it means I have to stay in the shadows."_

With that Neji made his way to his tent.


End file.
